Rich getting richer in IRL

Hornish puts Team Penske in the fast lane with victory in Kansas City.

Hornish puts Team Penske in the fast lane with victory in Kansas City.

July 03, 2006|JIM PEDLEY McClatchy Newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Roger Penske admits to greed. He wants all the finer things in racing. A couple years of years ago, Penske became very desirous of a driver from another team whom he said "was beating us like a drum." Penske got that driver when he signed Sam Hornish Jr. after the 2003 season. And now the rich are getting richer. Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway, Hornish officially became "The Guy" this season in the Indy Racing League when he held off Dan Wheldon and won the Kansas Lottery 300. The victory was Hornish's third of the year. It was his second in a row, and it came four races after his victory in the Indianapolis 500. The win moved Hornish into the series points lead and made Penske, whose drivers have won 14 Indianapolis 500s, all the more richer. "Really good momentum," said Hornish, whose 27th birthday was Sunday . "I think there are a lot of things that are going our way as far as momentum and while we're happy to have the break next weekend, I wish we could just keep going and see how this championship unfolds." By Kansas Speedway standards, Sunday's victory by Hornish was a blowout. At a place where the IRL race has been won by inches the last two years, Hornish won by feet -- perhaps 7 feet. The finish did not come without excitement, however. The fun started on the final, lap-182 restart of the 200-lap race. Wheldon took the green flag but couldn't hold the lead for long. By the time he exited turn two, he was being passed by Hornish, who restarted in second. Wheldon stayed with Hornish and actually held the lead briefly with a couple of laps to go. But on lap 199, Hornish got the lead back. Wheldon knew he was cooked. He knew it because he knows a fast car when he sees one, and he saw one right in front of him as the laps wound down Sunday afternoon. "I just wasn't quick enough," said Wheldon, last year's IRL champion. "It was going to be difficult (to pass) for me. You can drive with Sam very close. I tried pinning him down a couple of times. I've got to respect the fact he needs racing room and his car was pushing a little bit. It got to the point where he was just quicker." Wheldon did take several peeks at the lead the last couple laps. And the on-its-feet crowd probably thought that turn four would once again make for high drama as the leaders exited it on the way to the finish line. But Wheldon never did make a final move. Not that he was content to settle in and accept second place. "Absolutely not," he said . "At this point in the championship, there is no point in me coming in second to a Penske car. I've got to win or do nothing. I mean, I tried everything I possibly could." The win was the sixth for a Penske car this year. The two other victories have been by Wheldon's Target Chip Ganassi Racing group -- one by Wheldon and another by Scott Dixon. In the standings, Penske is one-two with Hornish and Helio Castroneves, respectively. Then come Ganassi drivers Dixon and Wheldon. The margin between first and fourth is 43 points, so nothing is certain. Except that one driver has emerged as, at least, "The Guy." Asked whether he thought a special season was shaping up for him, Hornish said it already was. "I won Indy. That makes the whole year special," said Hornish, whose parents were on hand to help him celebrate both the victory and his birthday. "I don't care what else I do this year." He will keep trying to win, however, he said. For the guys. One of those guys has won 11 Indy-car championships. Thanks to greed, that number could reach 12 later this year.